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Our car’s passenger side headlight is always going out, and it is very hard to change. It blew out on our recent roadtrip, and Joe put a new one in, but it was misaligned. Once we got home, the replacement had gone out too– after only a few days, but I figured it was from bumping around loose.

Last Friday, I stopped by Pep Boys to buy another headlight, and decided to ask about their installation service– advertised as $9.95– so we wouldn’t have to worry about the loose light. I inquired about this service one other time last year, but was told the wait time was 2 hours (for a lightbulb!), and was happy to hear the wait time was only going to be 15-20 minutes.

After paying for the bulb and service (over $30… when the light we had bought the week before was under $10), and waiting half an hour, I was told that they put the new headlight in, but it didn’t work. A part was bent, so they wiggled it, got the light to come on, and duct taped it in place… and told me I had to to go to the dealer for a new part. I was kinda annoyed that I had to pay the service and would still need to take it somewhere else to be fixed. But I figured they had opened the car up and done something, right? And sometimes I don’t feel like arguing, so I left.

Joe wasn’t too happy with Pep Boys when I told him what happened. Another thing I noticed was that the little sticker our mechanic put in our window to keep track of the next oil change was missing… I think Pep Boys removed it. Like we would forget who our mechanic is without that little sticker, and be forced to take our car to Pep Boys for all future service?? Who knows. I do know that we took our car to our mechanic this week, and he fixed the light for free. Joe and I discussed going back to Pep Boys to complain and ask for a refund, but I hadn’t had a chance to go back out there yet. But today… they called me.

The conversation went something like this… (Obviously not recorded by me!)

PB: May I speak with Joe D.?

Me: He’s not in, may I take a message?

PB: This is Pep Boys, and we are doing a follow-up on the service you had done.

Me: Oh, well it was actually me who took the car in.

PB: How would you rate the service on a scale of 0-10, and would you recommend us to your friends?

Me: Well, actually, we are very unhappy since they charged us and really didn’t fix the light. We were thinking of coming in to get a refund. I would rate it a zero, and definitely would not recommend the service to my friends.

PB: Thank you for your time. (maybe some other words of good-bye, I don’t remember, but it was pretty abrupt)–
Goodbye.

HUH????? I just told them how awful their service was, and they made no effort to make any amends, or suggest who to talk to or anything!! How weird!! Now what should we do? Should we contact the store? I don’t even know where this person was calling from! Before the phone call, I was thinking of letting the issue drop and make a note to never go to Pep Boys again. But now that they called and gave such a non-response… I guess I should try to follow-up.